Kenny Washington Jr.

Kenneth Stanley Washington

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 11", Weight 185 lb.
• School University of Southern California

• Born September 4, 1941

BR minors page

Biographical Information

Kenny Washington Jr. had the longest career of the four generations of his family to play baseball in the 20th Century. Grandfather Blue Washington had played in the Negro Leagues for a few years and his father Kenny Washington (noted primarily for football) played briefly in the minors. His son Kraig Washington played a couple years in the minors.

Kenny Jr. was on the winning team in the 1963 College World Series and made the All-Tournament outfield alongside Hector Barnetche and Craig Morrison. He began his professional career with the 1964 Santa Barbara Dodgers, hitting .276/.396/.479 with a team-high 18 home runs. His four outfield double plays tied for the lead in the California League. In 1965, he played mostly for the Salem Dodgers (.288/.381/.499, 20 HR) but also got into 18 games for the Albuquerque Dodgers (.278/.381/.426 in 18 G) and 8 games for the AAA Spokane Indians (7 for 29, 2B, 3 BB). He tied Bill Southworth for 6th in the Northwest League in homers and led Dodger farmhands with 21, one ahead of Tom Hutton, Jim Fairey, Johnny Werhas and Raynor Youngdahl. In '66, he slumped to .274/.387/.443 for Albquerque, battling Youngdahl for playing time as Fairey and Willie Crawford played every game in the outfield.

In 1967, Washington batted .295/.375/.501 for Albuquerque. Had he qualified (he was 29 plate appearances shy), he would have been 7th in the Texas League in average (between Ted Sizemore and Bill Sudakis), 4th in OBP (behind Luis Alcaraz, Byron Browne and Mel Corbo) and 5th in slugging (between Corbo and Keith Lampard). He was 4th in triples (8). Despite that performance, he returned to the same club for 1968, producing at a .294/.408/.488 clip. He was 8th in average (between Sudakis and Ralph Garr), second in OBP (.012 behind Bob Taylor), 4th in slugging (between Jarvis Tatum and Sudakis), second in OPS (6 points behind Jim Spencer), 5th in triples (7) and third in walks (72, 3 behind Taylor and Billy Grabarkewitz). He failed to make the TL All-Star team as Talor, Tatum, Boots Day and Rod Gaspar were the outfielders picked. He was 6 for 13 with a triple, homer and 3 walks for Spokane in 1969 to end his US career with a .476 slugging percentage in 634 games. The USC alumnus signed with Japan's Nankai Hawks midway through 1970 but hit only .185/.224/.311 in 47 games. He was the final out in Koichiro Sasaki's perfect game.

Primary Sources

• 1965-1970 Baseball Guides